21 malnourished rabbits get rescued

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Two of the 21 rabbits that animal control officers confiscated from a private home near Lake Merritt last Tuesday on grounds of animal cruelty, rest in a cage inside their foster home, Thursday, June 30, 2011 in Oakland, Calif. Police say that the family that owned the rabbits were raising them for food, and were keeping them in squalid and inhumane conditions and that the animals were malnourished and had no access to food or water. (D. Ross Cameron/Staff)

A young female rabbit, with splayed rear legs due to malnutrition and neglect, one of the 21 rabbits that animal control officers confiscated from a private home near Lake Merritt last Tuesday on grounds of animal cruelty, sits outside the cage in its foster home, Thursday, June 30, 2011 in Oakland, Calif. Police say that the Asian family that owned the rabbits were raising them for food, and were keeping them in squalid and inhumane conditions and that the animals were malnourished and had no access to food or water. (D. Ross Cameron/Staff)

One of the 21 rabbits that animal control officers confiscated from a private home near Lake Merritt last Tuesday on grounds of animal cruelty, checks out a television camera that visited the Oakland Animal Shelter, Thursday, June 30, 2011 in Oakland, Calif. Police say that the family that owned the rabbits were raising them for food, and were keeping them in squalid and inhumane conditions and that the animals were malnourished and had no access to food or water. (D. Ross Cameron/Staff)

Allison Lindquist, director of the Oakland SPCA, holds one of the 21 rabbits that animal control officers confiscated from a private home near Lake Merritt last Tuesday on grounds of animal cruelty, Thursday, June 30, 2011 in Oakland, Calif. Police say that the family that owned the rabbits were raising them for food, and were keeping them in squalid and inhumane conditions and that the animals were malnourished and had no access to food or water. This animal has splayed legs from malnourishment, and will probably always be deformed. (D. Ross Cameron/Staff)

Authorities rescued nearly two dozen malnourished bunnies that were disfigured from their confinement in the courtyard of a Lake Merritt-area apartment complex, where they had been raised for food.

The rabbits – 21 in all – were found June 22 by the East Bay Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Oakland Animal Services, a unit of the Oakland Police Department. They arrived at the apartment building on 20th Street near Lake Merritt after a neighbor of the owners complained about the animals being kept in the common area. The animals ranged in age from 6 weeks to 6 months. Several were pregnant.

The owners, a family not identified by name, kept some of the rabbits in cramped wire cages in the backyard, police said Thursday.

The rescue team also found others hidden under a plastic tub at the side of the house. No food or water was visible for any of the animals, said Megan Webb, director of the Oakland Animal Shelter.

The family, she said, originally told authorities the rabbits were intended as food. When asked to present a permit required by Oakland to slaughter animals, the family then said they were pets.

It is not clear whether the family intended to sell them to restaurants. But it appeared they had been fed nothing but white rice, Webb said.

Authorities took the animals to the EBSPCA for an examination by veterinary staff.

A bunny with deformed back legs and two other rabbits required veterinary care, most likely a result of poor nutrition, police said.

They are in the temporary care of an Oakland family.

The remaining 18 were taken to Oakland Animal Services, increasing the city shelter’s rabbit population from 32 to 50.

The agency is working with SaveABunny, a rabbit rescue organization based in Mill Valley, to find placement for them. Anyone interested in adopting a bunny should call 510-535-5602.

Oakland residents routinely complain about livestock in their neighborhoods because of the smell, the noise or inhumane living conditions, police said.

To address the issue, Oakland officials have scheduled a workshop to discuss drafting laws governing urban agriculture, including raising and slaughtering animals in the city. The first of two workshops will be held from 6:30-8:30 p.m. July 21, at 5714 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. For more information, go to www.oaklandanimalservices.org.

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